[And it comes to be
That the soothing light at the end of your tunnel
Is just a freight train coming your way
It's coming your way... It's coming your way...
Here comes.]
--- Lyrics to 'No Leaf Clover' by Metallica
A Silver Lining Part 22
Waiting in the hallway just beyond the closed door leading to Heero's room, Duo paced anxiously while Sally examined his injured partner. After arriving on Quasar only a moment ago, Sally was the first person that the braided pilot sought out. Leaving Quatre and Relena to their reunion with a relieved Zechs and Noin, he made his way through the ship in his hunt. Much to his appreciation, Sally had been very patient with his drilling of questions regarding Heero's condition when he did find her.
As he continued to wait, Duo mentally went over the assessment of everything that Sally had gone over with him. The last two days had been agonizing for him in his worry over how the other pilot was faring from his injuries. He still had yet to get the details as to how Heero was shot in the first place. Somehow, he was certain that he was not quite ready for that bit of information.
The concern that he had for his best friend was only amplified by the loss of their home, all that Duo wanted was to be with Heero more than anything. His hands found the end of his braid and fidgeted with it as he continued to pace across the floor. It was all he could do not to interrupt Sally's examination early.
Finally, Duo heard the doors beginning to swish open and he quickly went to them. When the doors finished sliding clear away, his violet eyes instantly began to sting with tears when they met the widened cobalt waiting on the other side of the room that he had been longing to see since the last time he gazed on them.
Lying in his hospital bed, Heero's right arm was bandaged, the gown sleeve having been ripped away so that the healing bones could be splinted properly. His right side had less covering from blankets, obviously as not to add pressure on his healing colon that had been nicked. Thankfully, there was no further damage than what could heal with rest and staying off his feet for another week. Still, seeing his partner in even this state was enough to shake Duo to his core.
Vaguely aware of a smiling Sally walking past him, Duo had to strain to hear Heero's voice breathe, "D-Duo?" With a stifled whimper, the braided pilot sprang towards him just as his koi's left arm opened to him. Carefully settling into the tight embrace- and being certain to avoid the injuries- he buried his face in the other pilot's shoulder and sobbed, his eyes squeezed closed.
Sniffling, Duo leaned his head up to trail soft kissed all over Heero's face as tears streamed down his own. When he pulled back and opened his violet eyes, they widened with a soft gasp when he found tears now running down the other pilot's cheeks. Smiling lovingly up at him, Heero cupped the side of his koi's face and whispered brokenly, "God, I've missed you, Duo."
His tears springing up anew, the American whispered back, "I've missed you, too, koi." At the mention of his new title, Heero's smile grew before he pulled the other pilot's head down to kiss him deeply. Eagerly willing to participate, Duo returned the sheering kiss with as just much fervor and need.
When the need for air finally caught up, Heero pulled back with a bright smile still on his face. That smile faded when he spotted what looked to be a bandage under his partner's long bangs. Reaching up to brush Duo's bangs back just at the other pilot's eyes widened when he realized what he was doing, his own cobalt eyes widened.
Duo swallowed hard as he felt Heero's gaze burn over the large bandage that covered the line of stitches that spanned just below his hair line. He had honestly forgotten about the wound dressing, having grown accustomed to it over the last day. Before he could say anything to put his koi's mind at ease, Heero's concern-drenched voice asked quietly, "What happened to you?"
Biting his lip, the braided pilot reached up to take his partner's hand in his to place a soft kiss on the back of it. His violet eyes shimmered with unshed tears as he whispered brokenly, "Our house..." At the mention of their residence, the ex-Wing pilot's widened further. Shaking his head, Duo tried again, "Someone destroyed our house."
Heero paled and his jaw fell slightly slack, silently hoping that he misheard. "W-what?" was all he could manage.
With a small whimper, the American replied, "It's gone, Heero. Everything..." Instantly, the other pilot sat up as far as he could, the desperation clear on his face while he moved to inspect the rest of his love's body for any other injuries that he may have been hiding.
Stilling the trembling hands that moved over his shirt, Duo forced Heero to meet his gaze and reassured him, "I'm all right, Heero." Gesturing to the bandage in his forehead, he stated, "It's just a gash that needed stitches. That's the worst of it."
Heero fell back until his back rested against the raised mattress. Still shaken by the news that their house was gone, he ran a hand through his unruly hair. There was a long silence between the two Preventers, the graveness of the situation in their current mission sinking in. Squeezing the hand in his own, Duo frowned deeply, "What are we going to do, Heero?"
Reaching up to gently wipe the tears that coursed down his love's face, Heero carefully pulled him down with his good arm as he whispered, "Come here." Not needing further invitation, Duo carefully situated himself to lie beside his partner and clung onto him.
With a deep sigh, Heero placed a soft kiss on his koi's forehead, holding him as tightly as he could. "We keep fighting," he said at last. "We never were ones to fall apart before, and we can't allow ourselves to do that now. Until these people have whatever it is they want, they're just going to continue to come after us." Duo nodded against the nook of his neck, sniffling slightly.
Gently lifting his partner's head so that their gazes could meet, Heero smiled lovingly, "I'll build you an even better house than the last when this is all over."
This was where his real home was, Duo realized as he felt the strong arm wrap around him while soft kisses feathered over his face. After being nearly devastated by the loss their house to come to this place, he realized that that was all they lost- a house. A house was only a place of wood and stole that could be rebuilt. This place in his Heero's arm, however, this was his home.
His breath hitching in his throat at the intensity devotion gazing down on him, Duo smiled and whispered sincerely, "I'll make home wherever you are." Heero's smile grew, his relief evident in seeing that the other pilot understood what he was trying to get across. Slowly, he lowered his face until their lips met in a deep kiss.
Once they pulled away, the braided pilot yawned widely, his eyes drifting closed. After the long trip to reach Quasar, and the emotional train wreck that he had been through over the last couple of days-to say nothing of his inability to sleep peacefully while Heero was away- Duo suddenly couldn't find the strength to open his eyes. With a deep chuckle, the ex-Wing pilot maneuvered their bodies as best he could to pull the covers over the two of them.
Running a hand through his love's bangs, Heero frowned deeply at the sight of the dark circles under those closed eyes. He wasn't there when Duo needed him the most... again. While the circumstances and the outcomes were widely different, the fact remained that Duo was subjected to great harm after Heero had left him behind on both occasions. A sharp stab of guilt coursed through him and he had to suppress the shudder that threatened to wrack his body.
The ex-Wing pilot continued to brush through the American's hair, eliciting a low moan that sounded like a contented purr. "Can I stay here with you for a while, 'Ro?" Duo mumbled sleepily, still unable to muster any strength to move from where he lied against the other Preventer. "Missed you."
Smiling warmly, Heero replied quietly, "I would be upset if you didn't." Lightly kissing over the bandage that protected the stitched gash, he whispered, "I love you." As he drifted off, Duo smiled and replied the same. With a deep sigh, he gave into the looming call of peaceful slumber at last.
For a long moment, Heero kept a silent vigil over the precious creature in his arm. Satisfied that nothing would be disturbing either of them for some time, he finally allowed his guard down and his eyes drifted closed.
* * * * * *
The following day...
"Where is he?" Wufei growled deeply, his eyes narrowed as he stalked down the long hallway of the opposite side of the ship. His steps were quick, but determined, each one echoing down the empty corridor.
Sally strode in her pace beside him, peering out of the corner of her eye as she answered, "Noin and Zechs are with him in the third conference room." There was a brief pause and she glanced over just as her lover's teeth clenched in his closed jaw.
In seeing the thin restraint that the other Preventer held over his rage, it was Sally's turn to glare. "Don't hurt him," the braided woman ordered in a tone that left no room for argument. "He is all that we have right now as far as finding more out on White Out."
The Chinese pilot just nodded firmly, his hands clenching into tight fists while he mulled over what they just came to learn of a certain resident aboard the ship. As he steered himself around another corner, Wufei asked, "Trowa and Anna have been informed as well, then?"
With a nod, Sally replied, "Quatre and Relena should be on their way there, as well." She frowned deeply, her head lowering to gaze at the floor. "I still think that we should be waiting until Heero and Duo are up for meeting with him along with all of us. They were the most directly effected by all of this, after all."
"You can wait if that's you want," the Chinese pilot replied, trying keep the heat from his tone. "I'm not leaving until I have some answers." At finally reaching the door, he punched the access code on the small panel.
When the doors slid open, Sally took in the scene that awaited them. From the moment she could almost feel the air around her crackling with the bridled energy and tension that hung around them. Their backs leaning against the wall just beside the door were Trowa and Anna. At seeing the narrowed eyes and hated scowl on the ex-Gundam pilot's face, the braided woman's eyes widened.
In all the time Sally had known him, Trowa never was one to allow his emotions to show so plainly in his expressions. Now, his arms crossed and eyes glaring to the center of everyone's attention, he looked as though he were about to rain down the wrath of something unholy at any moment. Beside him, Anna seemed to be in her own reserved anger, one hand on the back of her lover's arm, most likely to restrain him as best she could.
Sitting before the large table in the center of the conference room were Quatre and Relena, their back to the door. As she and Wufei took their places to stand on the opposite side of the room to where Trowa and Anna were, Sally could gage their expressions better. The young blonde couple had their seats relatively close together.
With a hand resting comfortably over her swollen belly and the other holding the hand of her lover, Relena face was one of calm. Quatre was much the same, neither of them bearing as much anger as the other couple clearly was. That did not mean that they felt any sense of compassion towards the person sitting across from them.
Finally, on the other side of the table sat the young man who everyone had come to see the moment they learned of him. Peering through the bangs of his short, white hair, Scott Dailey assessed the three pairs that watched him silently. His arms folded on the table, the young Preventer gave no air of worry for his current situation, silently awaiting whatever came with an almost eerie calm.
At either side of that table stood Zechs and Noin, their bodies straight and their arms at their sides to make the image of two guards for the young man. Sally wondered silently if they would be enough to protect Scott if things spiraled out of control. She stood close to her own partner, opting to stand rather than lean or sit, staying close should she need to help her friends watching over the gathering.
There was a long moment of silence before Scott nodded to everyone present and began, "I imagine that you are all here because you have some questions for me." A statement more than a question.
Wufei took the invitation first, hissing, "Why the hell did it take you so long to come forward? The information that you withheld cost the lives of those lost to the White Out organization! Not to mention you knew that myself and the other Gundam pilots have been their primary target!"
Raising a hand as he turned to the Chinese pilot's direction, Noin kept her voice calm, yet stern when she stated, "Remember that Scott did give us the information needed to save Duo, Quatre and Relena. If it had not been for him, we would never have known that there is another leak in the Preventers." Scott never showed any acknowledgement to the statement, his face remaining emotionless as he simply sat and listened.
Quatre took a slow and measured breath, the only sign that he was dealing with his own frustrations at that moment. Both he and Relena shared a glance before the Arab looked back to the Preventer sitting across fro him. "We do owe you our lives," he spoke sincerely. "And for that we're grateful. However, you can understand our hesitance to trust you after you've been holding this vital information."
With a shrug, Scott replied simply, "And if the situation had been different- if it were you in my shoes and your fellow Gundam pilots acted as my friends had- you would have willingly exposed them? I was merely looking out for the only family that I had. Along with that, had I known that the situation would reach the scale that it has, I would have come forward sooner, I assure you that."
Quatre's eyes widened as he seriously considered the white-haired pilot's words. Since the war, Heero, Duo, Trowa and Wufei were more family than friends to himself. If he had heard any one of them making comments and notions that he did not agree with, if he truly thought them to be harmless, would he have acted as Scott had? The same thought seemed to be running through his friends minds and even Trowa seemed to lose some of his edge.
His cool gaze turning to the redhead across the room, Scott stated, "I was the only person they felt they could come to for a long time ever since they learned that you were sleeping with the enemy where they were concerned." At that, Trowa growled deeply as his rage returned full-force.
Stunned only momentarily, Anna placed a hand on her lover's shoulder and glared at the other Preventer. "That's one of the many differences between us, Scott," she replied. "Jessica, Mark, Sara, Brian and Andrew all kept some of OZ's ideals when the war ended. It took time for me, but I had a chance to see the wrongs in that way of living. You never made it clear to anyone where you stood."
The redhead's eyes narrowed further as she continued, "I may have fought along side you before, but that did not prevent Andrew from shooting at me when we came close to discovering him. That brotherhood you speak of certainly runs pretty thin."
From the corner of his eye, Trowa gave his love a brief glance, silently asking if she was alright. Placing a hand on his back, she wordlessly gave him an affirmative. Her past as an OZ soldier was never one of pleasant memories for her.
Raising a white eyebrow, Scott smirked, "Yet, you were one of us. It was a slap in the face of those who you fought alongside to suddenly find interest in someone they considered one of their greatest enemies."
The interrogated Preventer leaned back in his seat and his smirk grew and he quoted quietly, "Sic semper tyrannis." Aside from Zechs and Noin, all eyes watching him widened and faces paled. "That was what is now engraved in the walls of Jessica's quarters aboard this ship. It is the motto by which they lived as one unit, one profound belief that they all shared. Years of built up anger and hatred are not easily erased."
"My God," was all that Relena could manage in little more than a breathless whisper. "How any one person could allow such rage to overtake their lives..." her words drifted off and she shook her head. When she found her voice again, she frowned deeply, "I don't understand how anyone could become so driven to vengeance that they disregard all life in order to obtain it." Quatre removed his hand from hers to place it gently on her back, rubbing soothingly.
Folding his arms again, Trowa growled, "I still don't see how Lady Une expects us to feel comfortable working with you. For all we know, you could be working for whomever is calling the shots from White Out." He tilted his head and smirked, "What makes you think we'll be so willing to protect you from any... unfortunate accidents?"
Unshaken by the tall pilot's words, Scott chuckled deeply in amusement, "Then you will have quite a time in figuring out who this last leak is that attempted to kill your friends. I am not asking you to trust me, however, you certainly do not have much of a choice in the matter. You have my agreement to cooperate in the investigation in return for your protection from anyone who may think I know too much."
Wufei began pacing, his dark eyes glaring at the floor as he sought everything out in his mind. "How much worse does this situation have the potential of becoming?" Sally asked at last. "How much does this man, whom your dead friends feared so much, actually wield?"
Meeting her gaze calmly, Scott replied clearly, "While I know little, I can answer this without question." Leaning forward, towards the braided woman, he in a near whisper, "What we have already seen is only the beginning. A floodgate to Hell has been opened. He will stop at nothing until his enemies are crushed and he has what he wants."
The soft words and the intensity behind them send a chill up the spine. Even Wufei paused in his pacing steps to look to Preventer rain with wide eyes. Taking a deep breath, Zechs was the first to find his voice and announced, "If you're all finished with your questioning, then I should tell you of what Lady Une has planned when we return to the Earth."
Once he had everyone's attention, the tall man stated, "For all of your protection, Lady Une is finding a remote location where you will all be staying until this investigation is over." Gesturing to the pilot sitting at the table, he added, "Scott will be staying with all of you as well."
Snorting, Wufei huffed in a voice dripping in sarcasm, "Well that's just wonderful." Scott merely smirked at the Chinese pilot, welcoming the challenge. Zechs and Noin, on the other hand, however, shot warning glares at the raven-haired pilot. Despite the fact that they were orders with which they needed to abide by, not even Quatre seemed entirely comfortable with the idea of staying with the agent across from him.
Sally assessed everyone in the room, silently breathing a sigh of relief that this meeting had not turned out to be the nightmare that she had played out in her mind. Heero and Duo would have to be informed of the things that had been shared during the meeting. It was pretty safe to say that they, also, would be less than thrilled in having to share living quarters with the same person who could have prevented a great deal of trouble for them.
Life certainly was going to be interesting when they returned to Earth.
* * * * * *
Biting her lip, Rachel wandered down the long hall of the large ship that she had been staying on since the night of her rescue. After sneaking out from the large space where she and the other children were watched after, she searched aimlessly for any signs of Trowa and Anna. It wasn't that she didn't like the nice people watching her and the other children. She just felt... safer around that brave man and pretty lady.
Tightly clutching the teddy bear that the tall man had given her to her chest, Rachel hoped to find some sign of him. A door only a few feet away suddenly swished open, causing the girl to jump. Two black boots and two long legs covered in a pair of black jeans stepped out into the hall, coming to a halt just in front of Rachel. Looking up slowly, the child looked up into eyes that looked like they were... violet?
A long, braided rope of hair swung behind the tall man's back when he tilted his head and smiled warmly down on her, "Hey, there kiddo." His voice was friendly, like his smile so Rachel was not alarmed right away. But those eyes... and that hair! She never saw eyes like that, or hair that long before!
The braided man knelt down so that their eyes could meet the same height. Stretching out a hand, he continued to grin and greeted, "I'm Duo. Are 'ya lost, little one?" Nervously clutching her teddy bear tighter, Rachel nodded.
Pulling his hand back, Duo lightly patted her head and asked, "Well, maybe you can tell me who you're looking for. I can probably help you find them, since they can't exactly step outside for some air." Rachel giggled at that, causing the nice man with strange eyes and long hand to smile even wider.
Now that it was clear he was a nice man, the girl said quietly, "T-Trowa?" At that, the man named Duo's eyes widened and Rachel thought that she said something wrong.
Instead of hurting her, the nice man smiled again and chuckled, "Well, I think that I can help you there. He's a good friend of mine." He reached out his hand again and this time Rachel took it. As Duo led her around the ship, Rachel smiled in thinking of being back with the man who saved her.
* * * * * *
"Rachel?" Anna gasped, blinking her wide eyes after opening the door the quarters she shared with Trowa. Her slack jaw closed and she grinned, "And here we were just talking about you." Her eyes met the other pilots and she nodded, "Good to see you, Duo. How's Heero?"
Standing in the doorway, Duo smiled warmly in greeting, carrying his little companion in his arms. "Hey, Anna," He greeted. "Heero's resting right now, so I thought that I would stretch my legs after being in that room for a day." He turned to smirk at the girl in his arms. "Seems this little ankle biter was looking for you and Tro." The girl in his arms giggled lightly at the nickname he gave her.
Trowa appeared from the depths of the room, his green eyes widening then smiling along with his lips as he greeted, "Well hello, Rachel." The girl smiled brightly at the sight of the pair, her teddy bear still held tightly in her free arm.
With a warm smile, Anna smiled to her partner, "Looks like we have a sleepover guest tonight." Trowa chuckled deeply and nodded. Carefully taking the girl into her arms, the redhead grinned, "Well, we have a spare bed in here so let's get you set up, kiddo." Stepping into the room, she gave the two ex-Gundam pilots some time to catch up alone.
"Thanks for bringing her here," Trowa said sincerely to his braided friend. "We had a feeling that she might try to find us again."
Duo waived his hand in a dismissive manner and grinned, "No problem. She's a cute kid." His smile faded and his gesture mask fell. Meeting his friend's emerald gaze, he frowned, "Trowa, I need to know what happened to Heero during that mission."
Having expected that, Trowa sighed deeply and nodded, "All right." He gestured back to his quarters and said quietly, "We better discuss this inside." With a nod, Duo followed him in as the doors closed behind him.
* * * * * *
Whack! Whack!
So it was an other leak... another person that they thought they could trust. And she'd come inches away from killing Heero.
Whack! Another swift hit to the punching bag.
He'd reached the end of his rope. After all that they had put him through, after having lost so much, it was finally time to start striking back.
Whack! Whack! Whack!
Duo rounded the swinging punching bag again, his taped fists raised. Delivering more furious blows, he grunted from the effort. His white tank top was drenched with sweat, as was his face. His violet eyes narrowed on the bag, he imaging the faces of those traitors who were already illuminated.
Only one more... Only one more to go...
Whack! Whack! Whack! Whack!
From where they watched their friend from the gym's entrance, Wufei turned to face Sally. A sinister smirk tugged his lips. "The God of Death had returned."
TBC...
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